In his first race as the Gator men’s cross country team’s top runner, Batbileg Bor didn’t disappoint.

The senior, who was expected to lead the men’s team this year, carried the squad to a fourth place finish with his time of 26:09.5 — a second place finish — at the USF Invitational at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park on Saturday. Bor’s time was a little more than a minute slower than first place finisher Mike Delaurenti’s (Santa Clara University) time of 25:41.3.

“That was pretty much my best race,” Bor said.

Bor kept pace with a group for almost half the race and began to break away from the pack the last couple of miles, a strategy that coach Tom Lyons said was an excellent approach for an early season race.

Junior transfer Vera Ross, who placed 28th overall, kept the pace for the women with a time of 19:31.5. The women’s team, which scored 167 points, placed fifth.

Ross was held back in the beginning of the race, which she’s unaccustomed to, coach Lyons said.

“She was able to run the second half of the race much faster which was our goal today,” he added.

Finishing close to Ross were seniors Shannon Weston (31st, 19:39) and Crista Phillips (34th, 20:03.8).

Returning sophomore Tanya Ferreira finished close behind Ross. Ferreira, who ran her first race after red-shirting last season, placed 35th with a time of 20:07.8.

“Our front four did really well,” said Lyons. “They started out easy and then passed people in the third and second mile.”

Also, running for the women on Saturday were freshmen Courtney Wheeler, Ashley Ommen and Lana Sovereign.

Finishing in the top five for the men were Max Fernandez (23rd, 27:09.1), junior transfer Jason Karbelk (24th, 27:13.9), senior Paul Broyer (29th, 27:33) and junior Scott Clark (31st, 27:44.8). Jose Alvarez ran close behind Clark with a time of 27:51.4 and 34th place finish.

“I think we accomplished our goals,” Lyons said. “The men look a lot stronger as a team than (teams) in the past."

Santa Clara University won in both the men’s 8k and women’s 5,000 meter. Other teams that competed in the invitational were UC Berkeley, San Jose State University and University of San Francisco. Three additional teams competed in the women’s 5,000 meter — University of Pacific, UC Santa Cruz and Sonoma State.

Bor displayed some confidence in the team’s ability after the initial race.

“I think we’ll be pretty good compared to last year,” Bor said.

The Gators will be on the road until October competing at the Sundodger Invitational on Sept. 15 in Seattle, Wash. before stopping by the Stanford Invitational on Sept. 29. The teams will return home when they host the 2007 SF State Gator Invitational at Lindley Meadows in Golden Gate Park on Saturday, Oct. 6.